More proof that incentive travel is coming back

the industry, battered by the post-9/11 resistance to air travel and the concurrent souring of the economy, has been excruciatingly slow to come back, in part because some companies view such programs as optional expenditures in tough times.

"Gone are the rah-rah days, the endless sources of cash," said Bennett Ockrim, a vice president with Hitachi Consulting who has spent the past 20 years in management posts with a number of high-tech firms.

What's emerging in this modest, tentative revival is an industry much changed, and chastened, since the red-hot days of the late '90s.

While you're at it, it might be a good idea to reward more than just your top salespeople. They may look like the money people, but without those who make the products and keep the company running, they'd have nothing to sell. Sorry, that's a pet peeve of mine.

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